Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-12-25
Contamination.

Blois, on the blue edge OF the horizon
CentcnarianiSm.
For the Dispatch.l
The subject of ultra longevity has
attracted the curious from time lmmc-
mortal. The collectors OF cases Of ex-
IRENE longevity furnish SO large a mum
Der which pass the verge OF hundred
years that if we accept an eighth part OF
these it will result that centenarianism
is neither impossible nor improbable.
Button placed the extreme limit of hui
man life at little less than two centu-
ries The late Sir Henry Holland be
lieved that there was sufficient proof OF
the frequent prolOngation of human lie
to 40 and 40 years. The representa-
tive namcs Of the annals of ultra
longevity are The Countess of Desmond,
or Katherine Fitzgerald. This famous old
lady was twenty years Of age at the time
of the battle of B0sworih Field, in l4S5,
and danced with Richard The Third.
Sir Walter Raleigh knew her in 1889,
when she was l24, and in the last year OF
her life, when she was 140, she walked
five miles.
Thomas Pnrr. known as old Parr, was
born in 1893 and was buried in West
minister Abbey in 1885. The evidence
for PARIS 152 years is well founded, and
the famous DR.. Harvey ascertained by
n pOSEmOrtem examination that but for
the change Of fare. incident to his re-
moval from country home TO London,
he might have survived much longer.
Mrs. Kettle, of Newnham. Glou--
cestershire, retained her senses till with
in fourteen years of her death at 1873
and left three daughters, the eldest III,
the second 10.
DR.. Benjamin Rush, Surgeon-Genoral
in the Americ II Revolution, who wrote
great deal upon the subject OF extreme
longevity, considered the most impor
tant circumstance in the prolongation Of
life to an advanced age was descent from
long lived ancestors He never met
with but one person beyond eighty who
had ever bad a disease of the stomach.
He claimed that more women live to be
old than men, but more men live to be
very old than women. His observations
showed that death from old age is the
effect of a gradual palsy, showing itself
first in the eyes and ears and then in
other parts of the bOdy, reaching the
brain last.
The well.authenticated cases Of ultra
longevity in this country are many.
Eleanor Spicer, OF Accomack county,
Va, lived to 12l. John Weeks, of New
Loudon, Conn, died at the age Of ia.
Miss Melissa Garner, Of ScOttsvile, Mon
roe county, n. y, died in 1873 l0i years
OF age, leaving her husband surviving
her at l07 his death has not yet been
reported. At Norristown, Pa, Deem
Der %, 1878, Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas
died, 1O2 years old. Hardly an issue OF
n newspaper that does not contain notices
OF well-ascertained centenarians.
Within the past ten days ex-Judge
Zephamah Buuce, Of Port Huron, Mich,
was reported at 100, and Mrs.
Catherine Paxton. mother Of Mr.. Pax
ton, near Leesburg, is aged l0l.
A majority OF. readers look upon such
claims to ten decades Of longevity
as having no foundation in fact,
but an examination of the population
tables of the census of 1880 shows
some curious facts concerning centena-
rians in the United States There were in
1880, according to that census, in the
United States 4,0l6 persons 100 years
and over, 400 being males aud 2,6O7
being females. Three thousand and
sixty one were colorcd, including Chi
nese, japanese, and civilized Indians.
The number in cnch State IS not accord
ing to the order OF the States and Terrific
rits according to magnitude of pOpula-
ton, for Georgia, the thirteenth State in
magnitude Of population, leads with 3Sl,
while New York, first in magnitude of
population, had only 1856. The
other States and Territories, ar
ranged according TO magnitude of
population had as follows Pennsylvania,
iii; Ohio, 90; Illinois, so; Missouri,
90; Indiana, 55 Massachusetts, i3;
Kentucky, 1876 ; Michigan, AZ Iowa, 10
Texas, $50; Tennessee, 235 Virginia,
233; North Carolina, 227 Wisconsin,
80; Alabama, $50; Mississippi, 33S;
New Jersey, 25; Kansas, II; South
Carolina, 2GO Louisiana, 800 Mary
land, Is; California, e. Arkansas, III;
Minnesota, II Maine, IL Connecticut,
- WtSt NHSinltt u NCbl"oha'
2; New Hampshire, II; Vermont,
II; Rhode Island, S; Florida, 90;
Colorado, IL; District OF Co.
lumbia, 10; Oregon %; Delaware,
il; Utah, 3; Dakota, ] New Mexico,
80 Washington, 3 ; Nevada, 4 Arizona,
3; Montana, 3; Idaho. o Wyoming,
/ Alabama, Arkansas. Georgia, Louisl-
ana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South
Carolina, and Texas had 2,lS5-more
than one half. While some allowance
should be made for the difficulties
attendant upon arriving at the ages
of the col0red people, yet the proportion
of white to cOlored in the southern
States is nearly the same. Fresh air,
plain diet, Hnd contentment are the great
promoters of long Life, and these require
mcnts the colored race are blessed with
in their southern homes. AS sanitary
methods of living become more general
the greater will be the proportion OF CEN
fcnofropo